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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

BlogHer 2008 Meets in San Francisco and Fun Times with Fellow Food Bloggers

I had a really great time at the 2008 BlogHer Conference in San Francisco, hanging out with over 1,000 women bloggers, including more than a few of my favorite food bloggers. Taking photos of people is not my best skill, but I'm trying to improve! Here are shots of some people I met, and after the photos are links to posts about the conference from other bloggers.

First up, not a food blogger, but I was very excited to meet Jennette Fulda from Half of Me, since I love her blog, and I kicked off her book tour on Kalyn's Kitchen! We had a nice dinner together on Friday, along with the famous SueBob of Red Stapler fame. It was a fun way to start out the conference (especially after the flying day from hell, courtesy of Delta Airlines.)

Friday morning started with a chance to meet the fabulous Lydia from The Perfect Pantry, and we hit it off immediately. We had a nice breakfast together, then went to the Food Blogger's Birds of a Feather session. I was leading and had been keeping a list of food bloggers, but there were a lot more people there than we had been expecting! (The get well signs for Paz are a surprise, and I'm hoping she is not reading blogs for these first few post-surgery weeks. Keep the secret, everyone, so I can post them for a guest post on her blog.)

No, Bertolli is not paying for product placement on this blog, but they did sponsor a blogger lunch with Rocco DeSpirito, who was pitching this new pasta sauce in a pouch. Food bloggers are tough critics, but we thought the sun-dried tomato sauce was definitely the best of the bunch.

I have to admit, I was not a Rocco fan when he had his TV show, but he was beyond gracious about holding the sign for Paz, and even inquired about how she was doing. I was set to be unimpressed, but I found him very likeable and charming. He did a cooking demonstration using one of the sauces in a pasta dish with shrimp. (Rocco, you can cook for me any time.)

The lovely Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy was volunteering at the conference so we didn't get to hang out with her too much, but she got to attend the lunch with Rocco, and gave him a tip about salting the pasta water generously, the way it's done in Italy. (Rocco was flirting with Sara; you heard it here first!)

After Elise's presentation, the food bloggers all planned to sit together during the lunch break, and we did have fun! Above (left to right) is Biggie from Lunch in a Box, Amy from Cooking with Amy, and Jennifer from Jennifer Jeffrey. What could be more fun than hanging out with so many great bloggers!

I may be losing track of my days, but I think it was at lunch that Lydia and I ran into Stef from A Year of Crockpotting. (She was recently on Rachel Ray, go Stef!)

After hanging around the Unconference for a while, I headed to Americano, where Amy and I had invited BlogHer attendees and San Francisco food bloggers to meet. Another fun gathering, and pictured above (left to right) is Anna from Cookie Madness, Simona from Briciole, Christine from Christine Cooks, Amy and Claire.

More fun and good conversation at Americano with (left to right) Biggie, Gudren, Kristin of Offbeat Eating, and Christine.

Some of my favorite San Francisco bloggers, all hanging out on the same bench. Pictured (left to right) are Amy, Sam from Becks and Posh, Jen from Life Begins at 30 and Sean from Hedonia. (Yaay for Jen, who was featured as an expert on the Eat Local Challenge in the latest issue of Fine Cooking.)

Last, but absolutely not least are (left to right) Lynda from TasteFood, Ed from Is it EDible, Susan, Chuck from Sunday Nite Dinner and the gorgeous photo site Food Gawker, and Gutenberg and Chubby, the famous Bunrabs, managing to remain incognito even among all the snapping cameras. (I was especially excited to finally meet Ed, after I missed him last year!)

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38 comments:

Fantastic report, Kalyn, and the pictures are terrific! I love getting to know all these great bloggers in person -- it makes blogging even more rewarding than it already is. I'm so glad you could be there and that we had some time to hang out -- such fun!

How wonderful to see all those faces Kalyn. Thank you for posting the photos. Sadly I didn't get to participate on Second Life, maybe next year. Fancy seeing Sam with a champagne glass in hand.... and that Jennifer is so blonde and pretty and I love her writing.

Kalyn, thank you for including me in your round-up. I enjoyed every second of my first BlogHer conference. I had no idea you and Lydia had just met in person this year---I love how the Internet brings friends together.so neat.xoxsteph

Great report, Kalyn, and thanks for taking all of these photos! The best part of the conference was meeting and talking with other food bloggers and feeling like I went home with some new friends. I wish I could have stayed around for the Sunday brunch. Next year!

It was so much fun meeting all of you for the first time, Kalyn! Because of your efforts, I instantly felt part of the larger food blogging community, so thank you. (And good job reigning in the PR folks at the food blogger Birds of a Feather meet-up! Much appreciated.)

Goodness, a great post. A fine sampling of your trip to BlogHer. It was great meeting you too Kalyn, but I felt like I didn't get enough time with you. I was feeling a bit overwelmed. You took a lot of great photos. I wish I had taken more but my camera ran through two sets of batteries in just nine pictures. Damn camera. I have a couple great shots of you. I will post them soon.

Oh, Kalyn, you took some really great shots. Thanks for rounding these all up. It was so wonderful spending time with you and with all of the other bloggers. What an amazingly talented and warm group of people they are.

LOL! Kalyn, now you know I can't resist your blogs -- no matter how I'm feeling. I have to stop by. What a surprise I received when I saw the get well messages from everyone. My, oh my! I wasn't having a good day and seeing the photos and messages are like a shot in the arm. I immediately felt better. Thanks, Kalyn and all! What a wonderful time everyone seems to have had at the conference.

Kalyn - Lovely report, thanks so much for taking pictures, doing a round-up and all the effort you put in to gather us together and keep everyone informed. I regret that I couldn't spend more time with you guys but I hope to be at a Food Blogger Conference soon with you guys!

I'm going to read everyone's round-ups now that I'm "back" online.

Also, I would love to think Rocco was flirting with me, but I think it was just "marketing" ;)

What a wonderful post Kalyn and awwwww, how lucky you all are to get to hang out with each other at this great event! I realyl should consider plannign a trip to coincide with it one year. Lovely to see some faces that I've met (Shuna, Sam, Amy) and some I feel like I've met from spending time on their blogs (Susan, Elise).

I love how we are all wearing sunglasses. Like we needed them, huh? This weekend it is the opposite. I went out and got totally sunburnt cos I wasn't, well, you know, expecting burning sunshine in our city. I got it anyway.

I'm so happy you're taking the time to comment on Kalyn's Kitchen! I love hearing from people who stop by, especially if you're sharing feedback or asking questions about a recipe I've posted here.

I've recently changed my comment settings so people can comment without signing in, but you will need to check the box to show you're a live person, and comments on older posts won't show up until I publish them. Thanks for understanding!

Food Blogger Love!

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